head to head · open source
Zulip vs partykit
Zulip has 25,921 GitHub stars, 10,247 forks, 2,008 open issues and last shipped yesterday. partykit has 5,710 stars, 200 forks, 93 open issues and last shipped 8 months ago. Zulip leads on adoption by 354% (25,921 vs 5,710 stars). Zulip is written in Python under Apache-2.0; partykit is written in TypeScript under MIT. Zulip has attracted 40% as many forks as stars, partykit 4%. Zulip was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (collaboration), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Zulip | partykit | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 5.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-01-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 200 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Zulip if
- You weight community size — 26K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick partykit if
- You want the partykit feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and partykit fits your workflow better
About Zulip
Zulip is an open source organized team chat application built on topic based threading, aimed at distributed teams that need live and asynchronous conversation in one place, and it is positioned as an open alternative to Slack.
read the full Zulip overview →
About partykit
PartyKit is an open source, MIT licensed TypeScript framework and cloud platform for building multiplayer and real time applications, aimed at developers who want to add collaborative or live features without operating real time infrastructure themselves.
read the full partykit overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zulip or partykit more popular?
Zulip has 25,921 GitHub stars and partykit has 5,710. Zulip has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zulip and partykit free?
Both are open source. Zulip is licensed under Apache-2.0 and partykit under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zulip and partykit?
Zulip is written in Python and partykit in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Zulip or partykit?
Choose Zulip if you want the larger community (25,921 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose partykit if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.